


Door into the Past

by Rodin



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, But kinda in reverse, Character Death, Dragon & Human Interactions, Exploration, Fluff, I don't even know how to tag this properly, Like really open ended, Mild Gore, archeology, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 05:09:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19783909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodin/pseuds/Rodin
Summary: A routine archeological expedition goes awry as they finds exactly what they were looking for ... and more.





	Door into the Past

„You know that this is ridiculous.”

Issith simply continued to stare unfazed onto the map of the caves.

“Even if the progenitors existed …”

“Of course they existed!” With a deep sigh, Raen shook his head, while she continued in outrage. It was always like this. “How many ruins did we discover together? How many artefacts did we excavate?”

“Artefacts and ruins from _our_ past. Even if – and let me finish – even _if_ there has been another species before us, it doesn’t mean they were our progenitors.”

Grinning, Issith leaned over the table, making even more of a mess of the maps and papers littering it, and poked her mate with a claw against the brown-scaled chest. “That’s why we’re here. What we discovered in this cave could turn _everything_ around. Also, you just admitted at least the possibility that there were others before us.”

“I …” Raen’s head dropped into his paws and he groaned. “All right. You win. Why do I even try to keep you grounded? You lost your head in the clouds long ago.”

“That’s the only reason we’ve come this far.” She rose, circled around the table and leaned down to Raen. He lifted his head, closed his eyes and softly rubbed his snout against hers.

Finally, he replied with a weary smile. “I know.”

Outside the tent, the air was filled with the sounds of bustling activity. The other members of their expedition were about to finish the last preparations for their advance to the ruin. Dran’s rust-red scales flashed between the tents, as he saddled the large, brawny lizards who served as their mounts. Sum talked to their guides, who brought them here into the middle of the desert, his deep blue scales a stark contrast to the sand- and ochre-coloured scales of the desert drakes. The sun was shining comfortably hot onto the sand, warming Issith. Her long tail swished behind her in excitement. Pulling the scarf around her hips tighter, she fell down on all four, scurried to Sum and rose again. With her paws, she flattened the cloth again, while the drake greeted her with a small bow. Even though Issith tried her best to remain as calm and professional as she could, her twitching tail betrayed her. “When can we start?”

“As soon as Timaru has stowed the provisions. He and Dran volunteered to stay in the camp, in case anything happens.”

“Good. I’ll talk to everyone, the sooner we reach the caves, the more time we have.” She bowed to the desert drakes and ran away, bustling about the camp from one drake to the next, asked if they needed anything, how many provisions they had, how much oil for the lamps, triple-checked their route to the cave, and what was with …

“Issith, calm down.” She spun around and found herself in front of Raen, who grabbed her paws.

“This discovery …”

“Could change everything, I know. That’s what you said for three weeks now since we found the door. Calm down. It’s been there for the creators knows how long, so it’s not going to vanish all of a sudden. Come on, let’s look over the maps again, shall we?” He ushered his mate softly but determined back into their tent. Her excitement knew no bounds, but it was prone to driving her colleagues insane.

When it was finally time, the three of them together with the desert drakes began the track to the cave.

In this region, there had always been stories about the Drushkar caves. A labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, deep inside the rock, whispered to have swallowed more than one caravan who was resting too close. It was said that from the depth of the caves you could hear the voices of the damned, a whispered murmur and rapping, as they knocked against the doors of the underworld. Others told of an ancient city in the desert, buried beneath the shifting sands. If they were to be believed, the city had been close to where they now were. Those stories and rumours had piqued Issith’s curiosity, planted the idea for this expedition. It had been a long and arduous fight for money and sponsors, even with her good name as archaeologist only a few had been willing to support an expedition grounded only on tales. For months on end, they had found nothing but sand, stone and empty caves, while Issith was doubting her decision more and more.

Until they had found the door.

The word “door”, however, gave a wrong impression. Around five hundred paces deep into the branching cave system, one of the arms ended abruptly. The rock was interrupted by a wall of grey Metal. Inside the wall was the door, more than twice the size of an upright drake and three times as wide. Protected from wind and weather, it was in a surprisingly good state, considering its immense age. The door itself was plain, but next to it were faded runes, barely readable. Issith had immediately began to sketch them and returned to the base camp with the news, to send a letter to the university right away. Once Raen had finally managed to translate them with the help of text fragments from other ruins, she couldn’t believe it. “Installation Ark, Supply tunnel five. Entry only for authorized personnel.”

“A ruin of the progenitors …” whispered Issith, but her mate merely shook his head.

“A ruin. We don’t know from who or what. Not yet.” Still, it was the discovery of a lifetime. The door alone had immense value as a relic from a long lost age … but if they would be able to open it … Issith barely dared to imagine it.

The intermediate camp was half a day away from the rock formation harbouring the Drushkar caves. In the early afternoon they paused at the entry of the caves, before Issith, Raen and Sum continued their way to the door. Their equipment was stored in their broad scarfs. The drakes had loosened them from their hips and tied half of it to a bundle, slung around their chest, the other half falling freely over their shoulders like a cape. The cape was just as necessary, barely five steps into the cave the temperature dropped significantly. Their guides stayed with their lizard mounts, nothing would get them to enter these caves. Despite taking a detour to go around a narrow passage and a several paces deep pit, they didn’t need long to reach their goal. It was pitch black within the cave, the darkness deeper than a moonless night could ever be, only the flickering light of their lamps shone into the corners of the vast cavern. Here, in front of the door, they set up another, temporary camp. They had enough provisions and oil for three days, afterwards, they would have to turn back. Issith was determined to not let it come so far. Long they had thought about how to open the door without damaging it. In the end, it came down to the fact that it wouldn’t be possible to open it without damage. The door was a massive slab of metal. There was no other entrance, no visible mechanism, and even if there would have been, it was questionable if it would have even worked after all these centuries. Their only chance was to burn open the door. To that end, they had bought half a dozen melting charges, taking up the last of their already meagre funds. Sum placed the charges in a circle on the door close to the ground, connected them, lit the fuse and jumped into cover behind a boulder. Issith and Raen were already cowering behind a corner, their tails softly intertwined.

There was an aggressive hiss and glaring light filled the cave, turning everything into black and white. After a couple of moments, it was silent again, the blinding white light gave way to the orange glow of their lamps. Carefully they glanced from behind their cover. Where the charges had been, six holes were now inside the metal, their edges still glowing red hot. The sight of the damaged, defiled door hurt the archaeologist … but was replaced barely a moment later with unbound excitement. Her scales were tingling and rising slightly. This was it. The discovery, which would change their life, the life of every drake. Her heart was pounding in her throat, while she approached the door, holding her breath.

“Careful! It’s still hot!”

With an exhilarated growl, Issith ignored the warning and signalled the other two to come closer. “Just come here already! And bring a lamp!” Though there wasn’t much to see through the small holes, the tunnel most definitely continued beyond the door. Issith could barely keep herself together, growling and jumping around like a wound-up hatchling. Even Raen seemed impressed, shared the excitement of his mate. Whatever was beyond that door, it was a discovery on par with the temples of Jes or the underwater city of Manhat.

Only Sum kept his cool. “We’re not yet through.” The rest of the day and a good part of the next they spent rasping and sawing at the metal to cut a full circle into the door. Raen left on the second day for the intermediate camp to send out the news and returned later the same day with Timaru and more provisions. Dran was on his way to the basecamp, three days further in the city of Argaron, to stock up and get more supplies for a continued stay in the cave.

They shared the honour of the final push. Each of them had a paw on the saw, while they awkwardly cut through the last bit. The metal plate dropped inwards, ringing unnaturally loud in the silence of the cave. For an infinite moment, the world itself seemed to hold its breath, while the sound of metal on stone slowly faded.

Issith was the first to move. Driven by her curiosity and joy over the discovery, she crawled through the small hole and rose in the darkness behind. Raen reached her a lamp and followed shortly afterwards. One after the other they crossed through and stood with their maws agape. The tunnel was massive, its end lost in the darkness. It was still made of stone, but in comparison to the rough rock, it was smooth. Not polished, not hewn, but still completely flat. The floor was sloping downwards ever so slightly and was broad enough for all of them to walk next to each other, while the walls and ceiling formed a continuous arc over their heads, easily three times the size they were. Unlike expected, the air was not stagnant, but chilly and fresh, though not as cold as the cave had been. “It’s surprisingly intact …”

“Maybe someone should stay back? Just in case …?” Timaru looked through the assembled drakes, his round eyes glowing in the light of the lamps. No one answered him, the silence weighing down on them like a heavy blanket. Finally, Issith snorted and whipped her tail against the ground. The sound shot through the silence, waking them from their rigour.

“Even though this might be the greatest discovery we ever made, and ever will make, it’s still just a ruin. If we proceed carefully, nothing will happen. Raen, tell me the moment you see any runes so I can sketch them. Timaru, take some samples of the stone and the metal. Everyone good? Then let’s go.”

Their claws were clicking on the stone floor, while they made their way deeper into the ruin. Something about this place was … disconcerting, but Issith couldn’t place her claw on it. Time and again she looked over her shoulder, couldn’t shake the feeling that someone, or something, was behind them. But the only thing following them was the darkness they had driven away with their light, flowing back into place like a living mass. Sometimes smaller tunnels branched out from the main one, but they stayed on their path. Later they would have time enough to cartograph everything. But right now, her curiosity was driving her forwards, even though she couldn’t shake the oppressive feeling that crept into her limbs together with the fluid darkness around them.

“This is … wrong.” Timaru stopped, while everyone stared at him. The drake shivered slightly, nervously pawing over his chest and grasping his cloth, his tail close to his body, the tip twitching with fear. All his scales were standing on edge.

“There’s nothing here. Calm down Timaru, everything’s …”

“No. I mean, yes. There’s _nothing_ here. It’s too clean. There are no signs of rockfall, no cracks in the wall, not even a speck of dirt on the ground.”

“The ruin was sealed, maybe …”

Vigorously he shook his head. “Still, it’s not possible. Even without any weather conditions, there would have been something. No seal can stay perfectly intact for centuries. This ruin … it’s in _too_ good shape.”

“I’m sure there’s a good, simple explanation for this. If you don’t feel good, turn around to the door and rest. We’ll continue for a bit longer.”

He looked at Issith as if she’d lost her mind but merely shook his head in silence.

In the beginning, Issith had made detailed sketches of everything during their breaks, the tunnel, the branches, what Raen thought to be runes, of Raen himself, when there was nothing new. His profile in the light of the fire, the shine in his eyes, the soft line of his snout, his warm smile when he looked at her, the thin row of his thorns, running down his spine and disappearing beneath his pale green cloth … soon, she stopped with even that.

The unending darkness inside the unending tunnel was making it hard to keep track of time. After what felt like days in the cold darkness, surely it couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours, something finally changed. The tunnel ended at another, smaller door. Unlike the first one, this one had a mechanism to open it or something that looked like one. A piece of metal jutting out of the door at eye level. And unlike the first one, this door wasn’t closed. After fiddling around with it for a while, Sum opened it and froze. Bright light flooded the tunnel, bright as the day outside. It took some time for their eyes to adapt, but what they then saw was taking their breath away.

“Is this … a forest? No …” Issith extinguished her lamp, took a step forward and looked around. The cavern had unimaginable size. The floor was covered with grass, in even paces trees were growing, between them different flowers, set in geometrical patterns. “This isn’t a forest. It’s a _park_. An underground park …” Her voice failed, while she breathed in all the different impressions. The others followed her hesitantly through the door. A dozen different theories and implications shot through the head of each of them. Their common sense told them to turn back, report what they saw and return later to study everything in greater detail. But they were all too much the scientist, too curious to turn back now. “This isn’t a ruin. It’s an intact, _artificial_ ecosystem! Who knows what we could find here! This isn’t the discovery of a lifetime, this is the biggest discovery in the history of … of drakes! Sum, go back to base camp, as fast as you can. If you meet Dran on your way, take him with you, we have to report this! Timaru, Ren, I need you here. The best course would be to follow the wall of the cavern, so we won’t lose the way. Timaru, take as many samples of … everything as you can. Raen, keep loooaaahh!” Without warning her mate suddenly pushed Issith aside. Barely a moment later a great, dirty projectile hit Raen where Issith had been standing before. The impact threw the drake to the ground, where he laid dazed. “Raen! Are you ok?!” Groaning he shook his head and stood up again. Issith let out a silent sigh.

“What by the creators was that?” The projectile turned out to be a leathery ball, as big as a drake’s head, now lying motionless in the grass beneath them. Timaru barely opened his mouth to answer, as a being appeared through the trees. Everyone stopped dead, drakes as well as the being. It was definitely no ordinary animal. Like them it was bipedal. Even though it seemed naked, without scales, tail or thorns, it was covered completely in cloth except for its maned head and its paws. It was a little smaller than Sum, the biggest of their group, but still larger than the rest of them by several claws’ width. A second of the beings appeared soon after the first and stopped as well. Its maw opened slightly, and it made a surprised sound.

“No. I won’t believe this. You can’t be right _again_.”

“The progenitors …”

“Your theory about the jump in drake evolution was insane enough, even though they might call it “revolutionary” now … but… this?”

“I actually found them …”

“This is just insane.”

“Sum.” Issith turned around and poked the blue drake. “Sum!” He jerked up and tore his eyes from the two beings to look at Issith. “Go back to camp. You have to report this. _Right now_.” He gave a short nod, fell down on all four and ran towards the exit. If there was anyone who could keep his cool and reliably report what they had found, it was him. One of the beings cried out and Issith turned her attention toward them again. Raen seemed lost in thought, staring at them, while Timaru kneaded the ground with his hind paws. The first of the beings slowly approached them while making soft noises. “Raen, can you understand what it says? Does it even say anything?”

“I don’t know. If yes, I have no idea. We can’t be sure if it’s even intelligent …”

“By the eggs of the creators, Raen!” Issith hissed, “They’re wearing clothes like us. All right, they look weird, but they are obviously crafted, same as this ball.”

“The three-tails of the poisoned steppes use what they find in the ruins to build primitive nests. Yellow Fish-hunter lift up stones with their beaks to smash mussels. That doesn’t make them intelligent!”

“Just because you’re too stubborn …”

Their fight was interrupted as both drakes turned around simultaneously, distracted by the scaleless beings. The being who had approached them before raised his arm, the clawless paw turned towards them. Raen stepped between it and Issith, hissing at it. The being jumped back, seemingly afraid, while Issith dragged her mate back at his scarf. “Calm down! Until now they were peaceful, we shouldn’t be the ones to start a fight.”

Growling, Raen fell on all four, his tail angrily whipping behind him. Finally, he rose again and looked Issith into the eyes. “Don’t do anything stupid. We don’t know who, or what that is, how aggressive they are … we know nothing.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.” She rubbed her snout against his and turned around. “Just like always.”

“That’s exactly why I’m so worried …” He stepped back and went to Timaru, whispering with him in a hushed growl.

Issith in the meantime took a deep breath, straightened her bundle and made the first, tentative steps towards the being, her paws folded over her chest and her chin raised in a gesture of trust. While one of the beings still kept back, the other one slowly raised his paw again. Ever so slowly they approached each other until his paw met her head. Issith closed her eyes and waited, her tail twitching nervously. Behind her a warning growl sounded, but neither Raen nor Timaru moved.

The paw stroked her head and retreated. The being made some excited noises and Issith opened her eyes again. By now, the second one of them had closed the gap and also reached out with his paw. Like the first, he gently brushed over her head, before retreating. “Do you see? They’re friendly! No need to be worried, Raen.” She raised her paws, reaching herself for the two beings. Like Issith they let themselves be touched, exhaling air in small gasps. For a while, they examined each other in this fashion until they both took a step back. One of them fetched the leathery ball, while the other one waved his paw, made a couple of steps before waving again. “I think they want us to follow them.”

“And you think that’s a good … why do I even ask?” Raen sighed while Timaru growled silently.

“We should go back. This … this is far beyond researching old ruins. We should report back and wait until someone comes who knows what they are doing.”

“Timaru, this is a new, intelligent species! They could even be the progenitors, alive after all this time! This is …”

“… exactly what I mean! We’re archaeologists, not diplomats, or biologists, or … whoever would be fit for this. But we are not it!”

Raen simply shook his head. “Forget it. You won’t convince her. If you want to go back, by all means, go, but you’d have to knock Issith unconscious and drag her back if you want her to turn back.”

“Oh, just bite my tail …”, the drake growled to himself but followed them just the same.

The beings lead them out of the park into a labyrinth of brightly lit, white tunnels. Doors were seaming the wall in regular intervals, inscribed with runes. Other tunnels branched of theirs, but they were all empty. They didn’t meet any other being until they reached their destination. The room they entered was big, though littered weird machines. Most of it was on tables, though even the tables were reaching to the chest of the drakes. Four other beings were in the room, however by far larger than the ones who lead them here. Apparently, they were only hatchlings, who had led them to their parents. They too were scaleless and wore uniform clothes, differing only in the colour of their mane. One of the beings turned to the hatchlings but froze as it saw the drakes.

“Are you still convinced they’re not intelligent?” Issith grinned at Raen and let her tail brush gently over his, while the scaleless, how Issith began to call them, began to debate.

“Someone has to be your voice of reason since you seem to have none of your own.” Raen merely shook his head, but still entwined his tail with hers.

The discussion between the scaleless grew heated. One of them ushered the hatchlings outside and disappeared with them, while a second one started to … talk with the wall? At least he stood next to a wall, pressing his paw against it while he talked towards it. The other two were eyeing the drakes.

“What now?” Timaru asked, looking around the room. “Do we just … wait and see what happens?”

“Raen, could you …”

“No, I can’t. I can’t “just learn their language”. It would take days to even reach a common basis. We know next to nothing about them or their language if it even is one. We only know their runes, but have no idea how they are pronounced, just what they mean. And even that we can only guess. It’s not enough for a meaningful conversation.”

“Hrrrr …” Issith rummaged through her bundle and produced her sketchbook from it, flicking through the pages without knowing exactly what to look for. “Prime numbers.”

“What now?”

“You’ve said so yourself. We know nothing about each other, we have no basis. So what would be something that is objective, something to use for communication on a most basic level? Math.” She took her pen and began to draw groups of simple lines on an empty page. First two, then three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen. Each of the groups she underlined while making three empty lines next to them. Then she growled as loud as she could, drawing the attention of every scaleless.”

“What do you plan?”

“Proving to them that we are intelligent, just as they are.” The book in her hand, she made small steps towards the scaleless, turning the book around and holding it above her head with outstretched arms. The scaleless looked at each other, before cautiously taking it. Their gaze shifted between her, her sketchbook and the other two drakes, while they continued their heated discussion. They thumbed through her sketches, their voices almost barking. Finally, one of them snapped the book away under loud protest and started to draw something himself, before returning it to Issith, though seemingly unsure. When she took her sketchbook back, a broad grin spread over her face. Above the last three lines, new dashes were grouped. The arrangement was unusual, but the amount was clear. Seventeen. Nineteen. Twenty-three. An excited growl escaped her as she whirled around to show it to Raen and Timaru.

Before one of them could say anything, the door opened behind them. Four black figures entered, bigger still than the other scaleless. Instead with cloth, they were clad in something akin to a shimmering black carapace. Three surrounded the drakes, while the last began to talk with the scaleless. Each of them had a weirdly shaped metal hanging in front of their chest, grasping it with one paw. While the scaleless gestured and almost shouted at the armoured one, the rest of them began to push the drakes out of the door. For every step they took, the drakes took one step back. When one of the scaleless tried to reach past the armoured one, he was roughly pushed back. A dull tug was slowly spreading in Issith’s chest. Until now she had been filled with nothing but the drive for discovery, the joy to find her theory about the progenitors proven true, at least some of them. But now, the only thing filling her was dread. The armoured ones were leading them through the labyrinth again, staying clear of the larger tunnels, seemingly using the smallest they could find, in which even the drakes had to walk in single file. Timaru growled lowly, as did Raen. Issith was silent.

The door had barely opened when a biting, acidic scent filled their nostrils. The room was mostly empty, except for multiple benches lining the wall and a single table in the middle of the room. A table, from which a lifeless, blue tail hung. “Sum!” Issith jumped into the room and stared at the body of her longtime colleague. “Why? What have we done to you? We just wanted … why …” One of the armoured ones barked, a crack cut through the air and Timaru slumped to the ground, scales and blood spraying over the floor. Blood ran from a hole in his chest, while his glassy eyes were staring at the ceiling. Only Raen’s quick reaction had saved them from the same fate. Her mate had drawn her down and thrown himself to the floor. Without pausing for even a second he was on his paws again, one paw in his bundle, the other one gripping Issith. Stumbling she came to her feet, just as Raen was throwing his notebook against an armoured one. It didn’t do any damage, but distracted him long enough so they could dive past him on all fours. On all fours they stayed, running away as fast as their paws could carry them. Behind them, the armoured ones roared and began pursuit with thundering steps.

Desperate they tried to remember the way they had been led, the way back to the surface. They didn’t make it far, however. A black figure stepped out of a side corridor in front of them, blocking their path. Raen slid to a halt and threw Issith to the ground again, just as the weapon bellowed again, making a dent into the ground, not a claw’s width next to Issith’s tail. “Raen, run!”

“What do you …” This time it was her, throwing herself with all her might against the chest of the armoured one. In reaction, Issith was merely slapped away by a mighty blow, striking the ground with an ugly crack. “Issith!”

“Run!” the female drake cried, her voice wracked with pain. A desperate growl rose in Raen’s throat, his tail lashing, while the black figure raised his weapon. “Run you bloo

**Author's Note:**

> Seems like I'm incapable of writing anything that does not include dragons in some form at least.  
> And I'm actually fine with it.
> 
> Also if anyone could give me pointers how the hell I'm supposed to tag this story properly, by all means do so.


End file.
